Guarded
by DrWhoFan71
Summary: AU. When Santana Lopez, a world-renowned bodyguard, is employed by one Rachel Berry, Broadway star, things are bound to get interesting... throw in Brittany and a deadly threat and here's what you get! Brittana with Pezberry friendship. [Currently abandoned; may eventually resume]
1. Ain't No Mountain High Enough

**Untitled Glee fic**

**Chapter 1 – Ain't No Mountain High Enough...**

**Disclaimer: **I am not associated with FOX or Ryan Murphy and don't own any of these fantastic characters.

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><p><em>AN – OK, so this fic is going to be very AU. I don't usually write AU but was inspired to write this after reading a few thought-provoking fics that gave me this idea. You may recognise some very rough plot details (e.g. the bodyguard storyline) but the story all comes from my own head. I hope that you enjoy!  
>Oh, and also, this is a sort of prequel to another story set in this 'universe' that I'm planning; this sort of sets things up, then I'm thinking of bringing in Quinn for some Faberry in the next instalment... but let's not get ahead of ourselves yet LOL, I haven't even finished this one yet ;D This story will be mainly Brittana, with a Pezberry friendship.<em>

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><p>Santana Isabella Lopez grimaced as she attempted to wash the rest of the dried food out of her hair, her endeavours harvesting few results. Crouching for seven hours in a dumpster had been bad enough, but to find that it had all just been for a training procedure set up by Sue frickin' Sylvester had almost caused the fiery Latina to flip; she wasn't sure if she's be able to contain herself next time she saw her she-devil of a boss. Which, she knew, would be in just a few minutes; she'd been called in to the office straight after her stint in the giant trashcan and was currently desperately trying to clean up her appearance in the office's ladies' room.<p>

Being a professional bodyguard had its perks; in fact, she loved her job, especially as it meant that she got to kick ass, stay in some of the best houses and hotels she'd ever seen **and **get paid in figures that most people would happily give their right (or left, whichever they preferred) leg to receive. It paid being one of the best bodyguards money could buy – quite literally.

However, the 'training procedures' that Sue was staging were becoming more and more bizarre; as their line of work demanded, bodyguards had to have the ability to adjust and react appropriately to any situation, which led to Sue surprising the guards in her force regularly (when they were not engaged in guarding a client, of course) with seemingly random 'training procedures' that were supposed to 'test them to their limits'. In Santana's opinion, getting cramp by crouching in a dumpster while on the lookout for an imaginary stalker did not qualify as testing her to her limits, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her week-off had just come to an end, and she should have seen something like this coming. Finally wrenching the final bit of banana peel out of her hair, she applied fresh make-up and gave her dishevelled-looking reflection her signature glare. The reflection glared back.

Santana sighed. Well, at least she was presentable, even if she did smell like something that the cat dragged in at the eleventh hour. She had at least got the chance to change her clothes; she straightened her black jacket and regarded herself once more, giving her hair the once-over for any more elusive pieces of food, then picked up her bag and left the bathroom.

"Woah... what happened to you!" grinned Puck, who to Santana's dismay had been passing the bathroom just as she exited. She regarded him with a no-nonsense scowl.

"Shut it, hawk-head," she snapped. "Sue needs to see me."

Puck's grin grew even wider.

"Ooh... been being a naughty little bodyguard have we San?" His voice took on a tone that was actually a fairly accurate impression of Sue's; "_What was that I told you about not sleeping with the people you're supposed to be guarding, sandbags!_"

Santana just rolled her eyes at her colleague, leaving him behind when she passed through the double-doors that fronted the reception area of Sue's office. Sue's secretary Anna looked up, gave Santana a small smile and nodded ahead for her to go in. Santana gave a half-sigh, and reluctantly knocked once on the door that bore a polished plaque reading _Sue Sylvester, CEO of Guards4U Limited_.

"_Come in_," came Sue's voice over the intercom, and Santana pushed the door open and entered.

"Ah, why if it isn't Jugs the Clown," drawled Sue, acknowledging Santana's entrance without looking up from her paperwork. "Did you enjoy your escapade to the land of eggshells and rotten fish?"

Santana just gritted her teeth and sat down in the chair in front of Sue's desk. "You wanted to see me?" she managed.

Sue glanced up at her, then lowered her eyes back to the report she had been reading. "Mm." She sniffed the air. "You smell like my cousin Janet's dog."

Once again, Santana (wondering why this woman seemed to have it in for her particularly) bit her tongue and stayed silent.

Sue finished reading her report and looked up, as if daring the Latina to speak. When she didn't, Sue broke eye contact and reached inside her desk drawer, producing a red file from within. She threw the file across the desk, and Santana caught it with expert reflexes.

"You've been requested," Sue told her. "It's a pretty big job, I'm told."

Santana opened the file and found the smiling, mildly-annoying face of Broadway and film superstar Rachel Berry staring back at her. Scanning her eyes down the file, she subconsciously took in the basic details of what the file contained; job location, why a bodyguard was required, pay...

Santana's brow creased as her keen eye picked out a rather major detail. "It's, err, it's a permanent thing?"

Sue nodded. "I know that you've never done something like that, but just look at all those numbers! The pay is excellent. I'm almost jealous. Well, no, I'm not, I earn that much in a single day, but..."

Santana wasn't particularly listening. Mainly, her jobs so far had consisted of guarding an artist while they were on tour, or a film star while they were filming a movie, and then she'd moved on. Sure, she'd stayed with them for a while, but this was different. She would actually be living under Berry's roof on a permanent basis. Not that that would pose much of a problem for her – just how could she refuse that pay! – but it had still thrown her.

Santana came out of her reverie to find Sue regarding her interestedly.

"So? What do you think? Actually, don't answer that, you're doing it whether you like it or not. But, for the record, your thoughts?"

Santana pondered over the file for a few moments longer before meeting Sue's eyes.

"Why was I requested specially?" she asked, with a slightly suspicious glint in her eye.

Sue put her hands up. "Search me – but, oh, yeah, it may be the fact that you're one of the best bodyguards on the continent – which, may I add, is all down to my excellent training scheme."

Santana was caught in mid eye-roll by Sue, and decided that it was best she make her exit now.

"Your flight is booked for Thursday," called Sue after her. "And make sure you get me an autograph; I hate the woman, but it could make a fortune on eBay."

Down the corridor, Santana smirked slightly as Sue's loud voice trailed after her. Well, this would certainly be an interesting experience...

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><p><em>Please review! :)<em>


	2. Meet Rachel Berry

**Guarded - A Glee Fanfic **

**Chapter 2 – Meet Rachel Berry**

**Disclaimer: **I am not associated with FOX or Ryan Murphy and don't own any of these fantastic characters.

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><p>Santana's deceivingly slender hands tightly gripped the steering wheel of her hired black XTS Platinum Concept, which slunk through the night silently like a panther stalking its prey. She'd come off of the freeway a while ago, and was now navigating her way down the narrow, winding road that led to Rachel Berry's 'secret hideout', of sorts. The starlet's home was certainly quite out of the way, thought Santana, as she swung the wheel sharply to make a particularly nasty curve; the road was narrow, surrounded (to the side and above) by layers of thick-branched trees, and was heading slowly but surely in a downwards direction. She'd expected the diva to have some sort of luxury apartment in the city or something, but this was about a 20-minute drive away.<p>

She'd arrived in New York just after eight thirty, and this car had been waiting for her at the airport. Sue was certainly good at setting things like this up; usually, Santana would be driving one of the company's specially kitted-out 'supercars', as her colleagues liked to call them – sleek, black items that were more like tanks than automobiles, so well protected were they – but there had been some problems getting it there, so it would be driven in for her in a few days. In the meantime, she was perfectly happy driving this model, which was quiet and comfortable, if a little awkward to drive.

She rounded another corner and finally spotted what she'd been looking for; a fancy sign looming out of the gloom reading 'Berry residence'. Santana immediately noted that the gates were wide open and there was no guard – something that would have to be rectified as soon as possible.

She pulled up by the gates and spotted, by the light of her headlights, a small box bolted to the wall that housed the gates. She felt like passing it by, just to prove her point that the security was lax, but all the same pulled up and lowered her tinted window, reaching out with her left hand and pushing a green button.

The box crackled slightly before a tinny-sounding voice resounded from the small security machine.

"Yes?"

"I'm Santana Lopez, Berry's new bodyguard," Santana stated crisply, a slight note a disapprovement in her voice. "And FYI, your gates are wide open. If I was an assassin, I could breeze right in and shoot Little Miss Broadway stone dead without even having to get out of my car."

There was a long pause, then... "Erm... quite. Err... Come on in then."

"Like you could stop me if you wanted to," Santana muttered under her breath, putting the car back into drive and cruising forward along the immaculately-kept driveway, small stones crunching under the car's powerful wheels.

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><p>There was a slight dip in the driveway just ahead, and Santana was surprised at what she saw when she'd made her way over its lip. Below lay an almost mansion-like... well, mansion. It was hardly Creighton Ward, but that was the only word Santana could think of to describe the place, which was brightly lit from the inside. It had a very modern feel to it, but the sheer expanse of it could not be lost on anyone. She could immediately make out three different 'wings' of the house; the central building, which was joined to others of a similar size on the left and right. The odd thing was that the property looked like it was some sort of beachfront home in the way that it was designed; there was wooden, stylish panelling on some of the walls, and white balconies for each of the top floor rooms – the type that you'd often see overlooking a beach. Though she had described it as a mansion, the building was very much a recent creation, with no stonework to be seen. And as she spotted the grass and solar panels on the roof, which glinted as if made from fibreglass, Santana got the impression that Berry must be one of these eco-friendly tree-hugger types. And she was going to have to live with her indefinitely. Oh joy.<p>

Pulling up in one of the dozen or so parking spaces outside the left wing (that were mirrored in front of the right wing, which held two garage doors at ground level), the Latina twisted the key in the ignition and listened to the quiet rumble of the engine die before clicking open her door. She swung a leg out, feeling her boot come into contact with the gravel of the drive and the surrounding parking spaces. Her other leg followed, and she firmly slammed the door shut again, hearing the satisfying _clunk _as the vehicle locked itself as her fingers pushed the appropriate button on the keys.

She strode confidently up to the main door and rang the doorbell, half-expecting a butler to answer. This Berry girl certainly was high-maintenance, she thought. Memories of another client who had been similarly inclined entered her head, unbidden, and she shuddered. That arrangement had not ended well... she hoped that history would not repeat itself in this particular case.

She saw a shadow appear through the blurred glass, and braced herself as the door was opened by a tall, tight-lipped, smartly-dressed brunette, whose red lipstick shone in the light from above the door, giving the effect of making the woman's lips look grotesque and oversized. Santana tried to hold back a laugh.

The woman raised one highly-pencilled eyebrow and spoke.

"You must be the new bodyguard. (Santana recognised the voice that had resounded out of the security box) The one who could, ah... "shoot Miss Berry stone dead" without leaving her vehicle."

Santana's expression soured as she sized up the other woman. Dolly lips had the height advantage, but Santana knew full-well that no-one would want to mess with her bitchy side. The side that was on display, well, pretty much all of the time. She shrugged internally – the woman would learn.

"That's me," Santana replied stiffly, not quite managing to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Can I come in, or will I have to break a window?"

The woman gave her a long glare before turning her back and strutting down the comfortable-looking hallway behind her.

"Someone will see to your bags," she threw over her shoulder, her hand immediately flying to an earpiece so small that even Santana's sharp eyes hadn't (at first) noticed she was wearing. "Martin, I need you to collect our new arrival's bags..."

Santana let her unease at letting someone else handle her luggage pass her over – it was second nature to be paranoid in her line of work. She laid the keys down on the table by the door and stepped inside, feeling the warm comfort of the place begin straight away to seep through her skin.

She followed the tall woman into an open space with a large spiral set of see-through stairs leading up to a balcony that made up the second floor. The ceiling stretched high, with soft light spilling down from it, but the thing that took Santana's breath away was the far wall which made up the other side of the house. The tall woman disappeared through another doorway that led off from the 'hub' of the house, as Santana guessed that it was.

The far was entirely made of glass, and even with it being night, she could tell that it looked out onto the sea. She saw the lights of more of the coastline on either side; somehow Berry had managed to get a spot of land that was both tucked away and hidden from the land while being completely and utterly exposed to the sea. She eyed a footpath leading down to what she presumed was a beach down below.

"It's quite something, isn't it?" came a new voice from behind her. She looked around to find the petite frame and megawatt smile of Rachel Berry greeting her, the Broadway star dressed in casual home-wear and clutching two mugs.

"I mean, I know that it's dark so you can't really see much of the sea or the sky, but even the lights on the coast are quite a sight to behold, aren't they? I mean, it looks like there are lots of people there holding Chinese lanterns... not that I approve of such things, they're bad for the environment – not to suggest that streetlights are any better... anyway, I'm Rachel Berry, you must be my new bodyguard Santana!"

She said all this without seemingly taking a breath, and Santana took a second to recover from the verbal onslaught of information. Blinking, she decided on a simple "Um... yeah," as her reply.

Rachel grinned even wider.

"Well, I know that we've got lots to sort out, but right now you look absolutely knackered – and trust me, I know what that feels like, I've done eight shows a week on Broadway for three years in a row. So why don't you just go on up to bed? I can give you the tour tomorrow. Here's some hot chocolate, by the way; I figured that you'd be tired after your journey." She handed one of the mugs to Santana, who took it gratefully.

"It's vegan, by the way," Rachel added, but it was too late for Santana, who had already taken a sip. She spluttered and wrinkled her face in distaste.

"Oh, well, err... thanks anyway. I can always stay up for a bit if you want to sort out the basic details and stuff, like..."

Rachel shook her head in protest. "No, I insist. It's ten to twelve, and though I know that's not all that late, you've been on a plane all day too. Sleep is very important for your body to function properly; some studies say that it's even more important than eating. I'd imagine that that would be even more important for you, as a bodyguard; you know, needing to stay constantly alert..."

Santana raised a hand and Rachel stopped midway through her sleep rant, nodding and gesturing towards the stairs.

"You can pick whatever room you want on the left side - as long as it's got a bed in it, obviously. A few on the right side are free, too, but that's where me and Marie sleep, so..."

Santana raised a questioning eyebrow, and Rachel backtracked quickly.

"Wha... no, no, I don't mean like that! She's my manager and secretary – she sleeps in the room at the end and I've got the second one on the right. All the rest are guest rooms, so you can take your pick and we can make it your own later."

Santana nodded, thanked the small star and made her way up the staircase, her brain immediately choosing to take the room closest to Rachel's. In the case that there was some sort of disturbance, she wanted to be near both the person she was supposed to be protecting and the staircase so that she could access the rest of the house, so she took the first room on the right.

Her first impressions of the room were that it was spacious and rather luxurious, but she didn't take time to look around much, instead rifling through the wardrobe to find a pair of pyjamas her size, sending a message to Sue via her iPhone-like company communications device to say that she'd arrived, and slumping down on the comfortable double bed. She let her body give in to tiredness for once, crawling under the inviting covers as she quickly succumbed to sleep. She had another long day ahead of her...

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><p><em>Hey guys! First of all, can I just say that I am surprised and delighted at the response that the first chapter of this story received – it's the best I've ever got for a new story, so thanks for that! Also thanks to all who reviewed, favourited and alerted – I haven't got round to replying to any reviews yet (sorry!) but I'll make sure that I do as soon as I can. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter – the next few will be where the real fun begins! :) Please review!<em>


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